Broken Sabbath

When is a law not a law? 

But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. - Luke 13:15-17

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus calls those who accuse him of breaking the law hypocrites.

He does so, because they see no problem with helping themselves on the Sabbath, but would deny help for others on the grounds that it is work, which is prohibited on that day of rest.

Many might say that Jesus was advocating breaking the law, but I think his point was different.  He used an example of a work around the religious leaders had justified to show he could do the same and help someone in bondage.

It is a simple logic statement.  If what you are doing is right, and what I am doing is like what you are doing, shouldn't what I am doing be right as well?

The problem is we can all find examples to support our version of this argument.

Beginning with only ten laws, the Ten Commandments, the people of God wound up with over 600 laws, just by trying to accommodate all the possible situations that could call into question whether the law applied or not.

And those laws continue to grow in number as we discover new ways to break them.

When we find ourselves at odds over the intent of the law and its practice, it is time to revisit the law and make the necessary changes we agree are required.

But this is where we run into trouble.  As Jesus pointed out, we need to look at the intent and purpose of the law to see if we are breaking it or not.

Elsewhere, Jesus argues that the Sabbath was made for man to take rest, but it has been interpreted so severely, that all are bound and restricted, rather than free to enjoy the day.

Our Sabbath argument today is all about immigration.  We may agree that the way we have been enforcing the law is hypocritical.  But we cannot agree on how to fix it.

Some want to abandon the law altogether, like allowing people to work on the Sabbath.  That could lead to abuse of authority, giving employees no time off. 

The unions would argue against that, and they would be justified in doing so.

While others want to tighten the law, like telling them they cannot untie their donkey or ox to bring it to the water.

That would surely have all the animal rights people protesting, and they would be justified to do so.

So, our current conflicts over laws and rights is not much different than in Jesus' day.  And in his day, followers started to see the leadership as evil and corrupt and Jesus as the catalyst to lead to revolt.

I don't believe that was his intent.  But there are many religious leaders today who would argue that theology more successfully than I.

If we put our heads together and set our emotions aside, we might just be able to get down to the core issues that we can agree on.  We care about people who are abused, rejected, poor, and helpless, seeking asylum, seeking a better life.

Until we can truly believe that we all want to love our neighbor, we will not be able to find the best ways to help them live in peace.

So, on this Sabbath day, let us all take a rest from the anger and hatred and think of ways to come together with the goal of working towards a solution to our problems.

Now that would be a real miracle, wouldn't it?

More to come...